Stark's Shocking Situation!
by SuperZalanthandCo
Summary: After a disaster in New York Iron Man is blamed. Stark struggles to find the truth while the city is searching for his alter-ego. Meanwhile his assistant is crucial in helping with damage control but is there more to her? Collaborative story by two people
1. Chapter 1

**Note:**_ This story doesn't use any specific version of the Marvel universe for it's setting, as such it's more of an alternate take on the world. An easy way of looking at it would be stick five years or so onto the end of the Iron Man movie (however disregard the final scene). The Avengers are active, there are many super heroes around, Captain America is a household name etc. Although Iron Man is common knowledge the public still believe him to be Tony Stark's bodyguard._

**Note 2:** _The format of this particular chapter has been improved due to a comment by a reader, so thank you to them. Hopefully it's easier to read now. We will keep this formatting for future chapters._

The glistering golden doors of the Hotel Stark shone as an attractive blonde woman in a skirt suit approached them. Evelyn felt her eyes roll in her sockets at the name as she stared up at the glorified building. It wasn't the first time she had been here nor would it be the last. However, every time she had to come to this certain building it was never for a good reason. The reason could be either that Tony Stark had gotten himself smacked on the front of every newspaper over a drunken night or on rare occasions even worse. On this occasion, it happened to be the latter. In fact, this event happened to affect herself personally but she would not need to inform her boss of that. Her boss being that of Tony Stark. Evelyn was his personal assistant and who's main job is to, well, assist him in anyway she can. Her roles seemed to include getting him to meetings on time and getting him home if he consumed too much alcohol to remember where he lived. Evelyn let out a soft sigh as she thought of what she had to relay to him. He would not take it very well. It seemed he was very attached to his bodyguard, Iron Man, no matter what he did. Though on most occasions, it was found that Iron Man was innocent, but she still could not get her head round why he didn't just hire someone else.

Evelyn snapped back to reality as a man in a business suit brushed past her obviously in a rush for something important. How she wished Tony were the same. It would save her a lot of trouble, but then again she would be out of a job. Through the doors of the hotel was the main lobby with a curved wooden desk at the top. There was a door attendant who gave her a nod and a friendly smile as she entered and Evelyn was sure he was checking her out as she walked through. That was understandable to her. Evelyn was quite short in height and most towered above her, but she held a fiery confidence to herself. Her hair was naturally blonde and hung just below her shoulders, with a slight wave to it. Most of the time she'd wear some sort of smart suit, either a trouser or skirt suit. Depending on her mood or how long ago she had done her laundry. Her facial features where somewhat delicate and attractive to some or in her mind most. Evelyn personally liked her eyes that were of a bright blue colour and shone like sapphires. However, the person situated at the reception desk was a woman and no amount of flirtatious behaviour would get passed her or at least Evelyn hoped not.

"Hey, Ana. Has Mr. Stark come home?" The middle-aged woman glanced up from her powder blue book, with some sort of romantic couple on the front.

"Oh yes, dear. Came home last night around midnight. Haven't seen him since. My guess is he's still up there." No surprise there. Evelyn would find him either here or on a bench nearby. She found Tony was like a dog. Eventually he'd make his way home.

"Thanks." She walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. Tony's apartment was the top floor, though considering this hotel belonged to him all of the floors were his, but he preferred the penthouse suite for obvious reasons. Evelyn found it more productive if he brought a nice big mansion away from people who he could embarrass himself in front of, but that could also be counter productive. There would be nobody around who knew whether he came home or not. Though in her mind she wasn't sure if that was such a bad thing.

The elevator shuddered to a stop as it reached the top level. "Top floor. Have a pleasant day." Odd. This was the first time Evelyn noticed there was a voice instructing her on her whereabouts. Come to think of it, there was no voice on the lower floors. On the other hand, it really did not matter as long as it didn't turn psycho on her and plummet the elevator down the shaft and make her go splat. The doors slid open to allow her out of the metal death trap. Maybe next time she'd use the stairs instead, though considering this was the top floor of the hotel, she doubted she would keep to that idea. In front of her were two wooden carved doors that were meant to show wealth and intimidate the weak. Something like that anyway. Evelyn approached the heavy looking doors and knocked her knuckles onto the wood softly at first.

"Mr Stark?" Her voice echoed down the small stretch of corridor that seemed somewhat unnecessary. After waiting for ten minutes, she tried again but much louder. So much so, her knuckles went red. Perhaps a bit too much force only due to her annoyance at having to come get him as he missed a meeting and the news she would have to give before they went to the office buildings.

"Mr Stark?" She repeated again but much louder. The woman at reception had said he had not left, unless he could suddenly fly out of the window all by himself. That meant he was either unconscious and completely knocked out or he was dead. Both related to the fact she would have to wait around for a couple of hours until he rose from his slumber or not in the case of having an early death. It was only then did the lack of sleep catch up to her and it was not only due to having to organize the day of Tony Stark. Last night a great tragedy occurred. Iron man killed her brother and not only just him. Many people. That was her main objective for being here. It was common knowledge that Iron Man is his bodyguard so it was in his best interest to know that his guard was actually a killer. Iron Man had encountered an enemy of relative power and sort to take him down but in the process, he destroyed a bridge with hundreds of cars still travelling across it. The mistake was a foolish one and should not have happened. It almost seemed like he was under the influence of something. Whatever it was he messed up big time and Evelyn refused to forgive him and would take revenge, but that would come later. She had a job to do and the closest person to Iron Man was her boss, Tony Stark. What better way to get a shot at him and Evelyn wished to get paid this month. Her hand slipped from the wooden door as she spun round and slammed her back into the door.

"Just great." Slowly she allowed her body to slip down the door so she was leaning on the door while sitting on the floor. The lack of sleep once appearing as her eyelids flickered down refusing to stay open for much longer. It was not the most comfortable position in the world but it would do. Her dreams would be filled of last night and what revenge she would reap.

- Last Night -

It was terrible. So many lives had just been destroyed in an instant and there was nothing she could do. Evelyn just stood and watched as countless of lives disappeared into the murky waters underneath the bridge or the lucky ones that had died instantly when their cars had joined the explosion. In fact she should of joined them, but was able to escape. She had blown the lock on the passenger side of her door and jumped out before the car went tumbling down with the rest. She had only enough time to save herself. Her brother on the other hand was in the driver's side and was now sinking slowly. Not many knew of her ability to generate and manipulate electricity, but it would not come in useful in this situation. The best she could do is fry the waters so they didn't drown to death. Iron Man had killed them. Destroyed this bridge and so with that destroyed them. There was no denying it for she had seen it with her eyes and would have been a victim of it herself. Evelyn felt her knees weaken as she collapsed near the edge of what was left of the connecting bridge. The last of her family had tumbled to his grave and she didn't save him. It could have been her fault but she choose to blame the once hero, Iron Man. Rough hands grabbed her from behind, sparks emitted from her hands and shocked whoever it was that dared move her. She swiftly turned to see the perpetrator only to see a scared looking fire fighter. The balls of electricity that had been building up in her hands fizzled out, as she did not wish to harm him. Quickly, her eyes darted to the sky in search of the red and gold armour but found he had gone. No need to rush her revenge. He would suffer slowly and hopefully painfully if she had her way.

"Er… Ma'am. You okay?" Her head turned sharply back to see the fire fighter had regained his feet and was staring at her too cautious to move forward.

"I'm fine." Without anymore of a word or care to listen to what else he had to say, Evelyn walked through the crowds of people that had gathered to view what the chaos had left behind. They were vultures. All of them. They just wanted to get a little more adventure in their day and something to talk about once they got home to their families. Evelyn doubted they had lost anyone just then. She almost felt they were also in need of being punished but it was not them that had caused the bridge to collapse, however much fun it would to give them a little shock.

Once Evelyn had returned home to her small apartment, she collapsed onto her single bed and felt the moisture drip from her eyes. Once one tear had fell many followed after them until her eyes felt too weak and dry to squeeze out a single tear. Before long, the exhaustion of crying got to her and she fell to sleep at around three in the morning. A sharp tune filled the empty room, which she recognized as the tone of her mobile. The digits on the corner of the screen showing her it was six am. Scooping it up, she sucked up some breathe before muttering a, "hello?"

It seemed the company had caught wind of the disaster at the bridge and knew that the media would want a statement from Mr Stark of the actions of Iron Man. They refused to accept he had no control over what his bodyguard did so it was up to her to locate him and make him do a statement or present one herself.

"Understood. I'll get right on it." The phone went dead indicating the phone call was over. There was no chance of locating Tony at this time in the morning. There were too many bars in this city he could be in and she was in no way about to go hunting for him. Time to grin and bare the press. It wasn't her favourite activity of working for Mr. Stark but it definitely was not the worst by far. Evelyn quickly changed her suit as the one she had been wearing was covered in dust.

A short check in the mirror and she was off out of the door once more. She had to hale a cab to get to the town hall, which took about an hour or two due to the held up traffic and protestors, where the media conference would be taking place. As soon as she stepped out of the yellow car strong arms of bodyguards wrapped round her waist as she was lead through the crowd of angry families. Technically she should be joining them in their rage, but she had to act her part otherwise it would be difficult to get close enough to Iron man. He trusted Tony Stark and if he trusted her getting to Iron Man would be simple. Once in the building, a personal assistant of whoever was in charge took her up the stairs onto the platform where she would need to make some sort of statement for Iron man's actions. It didn't occur to Evelyn that she would need to plan out something to say. Improvisation would have to do for now. Three microphones stood upon the wooden platform which she approached and flashed her brightest smile at the press before her.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press. A great tragedy has befallen us and we at Stark Industries give the grieving families our condolences, but we wish to express that Iron Man's participation in last night's actions were not of his own fault. Iron Man is here to protect us and always will be. Unfortunately, there are times when he is unable to achieve that. This is one of them. I myself have lost someone and refused to blame the hero of this city. We at Stark Industries wish the families of the deceased to forgive Iron Man for whatever participation they may see him to have taken. Thank you. I will not be taking questions." Of course, with her last statement a flood of voices filled the hall asking for the whereabouts of Iron Man now and other such questions that would go unanswered. Evelyn almost found it scary at how easily she could lie to millions. Next stop was to find Tony Stark. Her eyes drifted down to her watch confirming it was ten in the morning. The accident had happened at eight in the evening. There goes her beauty sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: **_These two chapters were already prepared thus why they've been posted so close together. We haven't locked down how often we'll be posting new chapters but we're aiming for at least once a week._

A piercing screech of an alarm cut through the silence of Tony Stark's private penthouse. Tony let out a confused grumble as he was plucked from his blissful slumber. A splitting headache accompanied his lack of sleep and sluggish thoughts as he struggled to recall the previous night's events and, perhaps most relevantly, how much alcohol he had consumed. His bed felt stiff and unfamiliar, in an attempt to discover his location he shifted his position only to tumble onto the floor landing upon a discarded pile of empty bottles. A groan of pain escaped his lips while memories of last night's escapades trickled back into his mind. Along with the memories came the realisation that the sound that had awoken him was the security alarm.

Stumbling to his feet his fingers wrapped around the top of a broken bottle beneath him. Armed with his makeshift weapon he stood ready to defend to his home from the intruders. He attempted to ward of his unseen targets with a stern warning but instead a slur of peculiar syllables dribbled from his lips while he waved the bottle above his head fiercely. A calm cold female voice spoke out to him from somewhere beyond the hallway.

"There is no one in the house Mr. Stark."

Tony staggered towards the voice curiously."Who's there?" he managed to blurt out in between slurred sounds.

"Mr. Stark, there is only yourself within the house."

For one horrendously terrifying moment Tony thought the voice had originated from his own mind before quickly realising the voice belonged to his digital assistant Jocasta. Jocasta was in fact an AI construct he had been working on for around the last decade slowly modifying and altering her software in his spare time. She was linked into his central computer network allowing her to monitor (and control) many aspects of the house. She was also aware of Tony's alter-ego as Iron Man. The last remnants of sleep were fading from his consciousness returning him to reality.

"What time is it?" he asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Twelve hours thirty-four minutes and four seconds and counting. You slept through your nine o'clock meeting, I neglected to awaken you considering you got to sleep only two hours prior to the meeting's start. It's been rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon at precisely three thirty."

Another groan broke forth as he recalled the meeting being set earlier in the week. He felt little regret over missing it considering it was only another boring stock meeting, he'd have likely spent the majority of it day dreaming anyway.

"Anything else?" he muttered.

"Yes. Your personal assistant is currently outside the front door, she has been for approximately an hour. She appears to be resting."

He ran a hand through his messy dark hair as he pondered on Jocasta's last comment. It was unusual for her to come to his apartment unless something catastrophic had occurred regarding the company.

Tony considered leaving his assistant outside, after all she'd probably leave after another hour or so. He tried to summon the memory of how he'd gotten home last night and the likelihood of her knowing he was inside either by seeing him or by any evidence he'd left behind (a crashed car or discarded clothes in the lobby for example). He came to the conclusion it was probably better to answer the door and let her in. Leaving the living room and stepping over the empty bottles he entered the hallway before approaching the front door. He flicked the latch free before pulling open the door. He stepped back in surprise as the sleeping body of his assistant slumped back through the doorway. Her eyes shot open as her head slammed to the wooden floor of the hallway.

"Mr. Stark!" she exclaimed. He raised an eyebrow with mock curiosity

"Morning" he added sly.

"Actually I think you'll find its afternoon."

He paused considering another response but instead offered her a hand to help her get to her feet. As she pulled herself up Tony took a step back his body still not awake enough to handle the weight. His knees faltering he tumbled backwards sending them both to the ground. Too tired to move Tony simply rested there as his assistant lay atop him.

"And I'm back on the floor again."

Laying nose to nose he noticed something for the first time: "Your eyes are red," it was more of a statement than a question. "Rough night?" he asked, clearly he wasn't quite in the position to pass judgement.

"Not as rough as yours."

He didn't have much to say in response to that, she was probably right considering some of the details that were beginning to come back to him. She shifted her position finally getting back to her feet. Suddenly she froze

"Is that?" she left the question open though he had little doubt as to what she was referring to considering her new position.

"Yes it is." There wasn't much point lying and if he did what would he say? There were few believable answers he could give.

"Right," she added casually before getting fully to her feet.

"Why are you here?" he asked genuinely curious.

"Well first of all you need a shower," she stated avoiding the question.

Leaving his comforting position on the floor he too got to his feet. In response to her mentioning the shower he looked to the large wall mounted mirror on his left. He had to admit he didn't quite look his best. Bloodshot eyes stared back at him while his mouth hung slightly ajar. His normally neatly trimmed beard descending into a tangled mess with flakes of what he hoped were (but suspected wasn't) bits of food. He gave a slight nod. Maybe a shower was a good idea.

Once in the shower he pushed the silver button to activate the water. The sudden barrage of boiling water was an unwelcome shock. He fought the urge to flee out the door instead enduring the uncomfortable temperature. He began to feel himself slipping back into the warm embrace of sleep when his assistant's voice broke out jolting him back to reality:

"As for why I'm really here you should check the news," her voice yelling over the sound of the running water.

He let out a sigh. It wouldn't be the first time his drunken antics had earned him some media attention. He dreaded activating the television. As long as he'd not become entirely nude his PR firm would be able to smooth things over relatively easy, at least they should for what he was paying them. To the side of the water controls was a small screen, below it a water-proof touchpad. His fingers tapped at three keys and with a click the screen flicked on. A wave of dread washed over him as it became immediately apparent this was about more than passing out drunk in the middle of the park (again). The screen showed a newsreader sat at a desk while behind them was an image of Iron Man with the text 'Murderer' below it. To the public Iron Man was Tony Stark's personal bodyguard. Very few people knew the truth that Tony Stark was indeed Iron Man himself.

There were only two possibilities: At some point last night Tony had donned his armour and killed somebody or someone had stolen one of his suits in an attempt to frame him. The last option was the only one Tony allowed himself to believe. He would be lying to himself if he said he never piloted the amour after having a few drinks but he liked to tell himself he had enough self control to never allow himself to wear the suit when he was full blown drunk. Whether he believed that statement was a different issue altogether but now wasn't the time to be pondering over his self doubt. The newswoman continued to banter on doing everything to talk about Iron Man and his relation to Tony but very little on what he'd actually committed. Finally the footage switched to a blurry video with a poor frame rate. Most likely from a mobile phone but clearly nothing Stark developed. He noted how the quality would be much higher on one of his own phones.

So far the footage just seemed to show a busy street with people rushing around frantically in both directions. For a split second he thought he saw a glimpse of Evelyn. Had it really been her? He'd have to check the footage again later, for the moment it wasn't too important. There was no audio so it was difficult to decipher what was going on thus far. Suddenly the camera panned around to show a scene of shocking devastation. Despite the boiling temperature of the shower Tony felt a chill slither down his spine. He suddenly felt very alert. There were many myths on how to get rid of a hangover but seeing yourself accused of causing a disaster that had claimed dozens of lives was a hell of a wake up call. From what he could see it looked like a huge bridge had been blown apart at one section leaving the remainder of it to crumble and crack apart dropping the pedestrians into the water dozens of feet below.

The footage ended flicking back to the newsroom. The woman was now talking about the hundreds of eye witnesses who had claimed to see Iron Man arriving and leaving the scene in addition to seeing him fire the now infamous shot. An image faded onto the screen, it took a split second for him to realise the coloured blob on the screen was supposed to be a photo of Iron Man at the bridge. Tony whispered a silent curse, the image was incredibly poor quality. A clear shot of the armour would have been vital evidence in deducting exactly which armour had been taken. Over the years Tony had developed multiple versions of the armour for various reasons such as testing equipment, use in particular environments or simply upgrading from the last model. Disposing of the armour would be a very poor decision considering a significant amount of trade secrets were locked inside each one. Thus every model of armour produced was locked away in various locations.

The image flicked off of the screen returning to a shot of the newsroom. "Responding to the disaster Stark Industries held the following press conference this morning."

Tony was yanked from his thoughts immediately as the familiar face of Evelyn Stevens, the very woman outside the room, now took up the screen. She was wearing the same smart clothing she wore now and stood in front of a podium. Eager members of the press shouted out questions below her while she was flanked by two intimidating body guards. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press. A great tragedy has befallen us and we at Stark enterprises give the grieving families are condolences, but we wish to express that Iron Man's participation in last night's actions were not of his own fault. Iron Man is here to protect us and always will be," she was being vague definitely an excellent move considering the situation. He felt silently thankful for her quick thinking as he knew she likely had no more information than what he currently had. "Unfortunately, there are times when he is unable to achieve that. This is one of them. I myself have lost someone and refused to blame the hero of this city. We at Stark company wish the families of the deceased to forgive Iron Man for whatever participation they may see him to have taken. Thank you. I will not be taking questions."

The first thing that struck him was she had said she'd 'lost someone' was that the truth? Of course it had to be. She wouldn't be cold hearted enough to lie about that. But perhaps if the board were breathing down her neck and she'd been instructed to say such as an empathy tactic then she may have. He swept the thought aside, for the moment he had to think about the bigger picture. Lives had been lost and more could follow if this situation was diffused of soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note:** _Yeah we know we said it wouldn't be everyday that we'd update this but... we do have a lot of the chapters already planned and have very little to do but play around with this story. No doubt we'll upoad another chapter today. XD  
_  
The TV was continuing to drone on but Tony had ceased listening to it. His mind now raced to examine the possibilities of what had happened and where he should go from here. The bridge would be blocked off no doubt with the rescue effort still underway. Even if he wanted to do so examining the scene was definitely something he couldn't do just yet. The first thing the authorities would do is concern themselves with the disaster and the clean up. All manpower would go into the rescue operation and rightly so. But inevitably when all had been done they would want answers. They would want Iron Man.

Evelyn had acted perfectly at the conference, it gave him the freedom to use whatever cover story he pleased without causing a contradiction. The best cover story to use would normally be the truth but in this case that wasn't an option. If he said that the Iron Man that had destroyed the bridge was an impostor then the police would demand to question the real pilot. That was a problem when _he_ was the real pilot. In addition to that they would demand to see where the armour was usually stored or even demand tech specifications to be used as evidence to prove Iron Man was or wasn't responsible. He could only delay them for a limited time until they went through the channels and obtained a warrant. In a disaster such as this certain people would have no trouble obtaining their warrant needed.

A chill trickled down his spine for the second time. He was thinking as if it would be the police showing up at Stark Industries. No, this wasn't a simple crime this would be treated like an act of terrorism and on top of that one performed by a _'special'_ individual. The police wouldn't be the ones coming to see him. It would be Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division also known as S.H.I.E.L.D. He could delay the police but delaying S.H.I.E.L.D. was like trying to hold back the tide. No matter what cover story he used they would be banging down the door sooner or later. Knowing Fury's reputation it would be sooner rather than later. Therefore there was only one option to take: he would have to announce Iron Man's disappearance.

Confirming his involvement would be near suicide for the company, stocks would plummet (at least more so than they already would have) and the board would be all but organising a coup. Instead he'd have to play it that he was as clueless as everyone else. After all in essence he was clueless who had committed the act. Iron Man's last public appearance had been several days ago, that worked in his favour. He would say he'd lost contact with Iron Man around four days ago as that would create the suspicion that it hadn't been the _real_ Iron Man in the armour but a thief without Tony actually having to imply it himself. Additionally the story could backfire instead adding evidence Iron Man had gone rogue. He decided sticking to that story was the best course of action, hopefully the citizens of the city would have faith in Iron Man considering what Tony had done for the city while in his armour.

Tony pushed one of the small buttons below the TV screen and leaned in close muttering:

"Jocasta, monitor all channels for the next twenty-four hours and record anything that mentions the words Stark, bridge or Iron Man. Upload the files to the Stark extranet when they're complete but encode them only to be visible under my login. Also lockdown the main elevator, I don't want anyone getting access to the penthouse."

There was no confirmation given by Jocasta to indicate she'd acknowledged his request but that was a result of Evelyn's presence. He'd instructed Jocasta to remain silent if anyone else was also in the penthouse. Satisfied he turned off the water and got out of the shower.

After drying himself and having a quick shave he put back on his vest. Not the most pleasant thing to do considering how he'd wore it during yesterday's antics but it was better than allowing Evelyn to see the arc reactor attached to his chest. The device kept him alive and the shrapnel from his heart but he wasn't too fond on showing it off to people. Opening the door Tony marched out of the bathroom immediately spotting the fresh suit laid out for him.

"I saw the news" he began as he dressed himself. "You did a good job handling the press conference," his tone was now calm and professional the evidence of his drunken evening washed away by the seriousness of the situation.

As he straightened his tie he decided to test drive his cover story:

"I haven't heard from Iron Man in days. We need to get that out to the public. Meanwhile I need to get to the office. Call Rhodey and have him meet us on the roof, I want to avoid the press."

James Rhodes had been Tony's best friend for many years. In addition to being the primary liaison between the military and Stark Industries he also acted as Tony's official pilot on occasion. He knew Rhodey would be at Stark Industries right this moment, waiting for Tony to arrive to ferry him via helicopter to the construction site of the company's newest building. It was intended to be a flashy show-off visit to get some attention onto the construction and build some publicity before the building was complete. With the recent events however Tony considered the visit cancelled. Though with luck Rhodey would still be at the office waiting for the appointment.

-_Evelyn's Point Of View_-

This was it. He had finally mentioned Iron Man, though it did not give her confidence in her mission that he had not seen him in that amount of days. Whether that was a lie or not she had yet to decide.

"Understood, sir."

The black bag at her side was tied into a knot at the top and placed near to the doors into the apartment. If a cleaner was to enter the penthouse, they could easily locate what she had cleaned up and would dispose of it. Evelyn reached into her pocket and brought out one of the latest models of Stark Industries mobile phones. The initials of the company appeared on the screen as she flipped the cover over. She was not one for personalizing her possessions so she had left it as the production settings. Even the tone on the phone was a simple ringing one. Perhaps one day she'd find time to change it, but for now it would do. She scrolled through the contacts listed on the phone given to her and found the listing of James Rhodey. She raised the phone to her ear while simultaneously pressing the call button. It rung for exactly three times before a voice cut through the tone.

"Hello this is Miss. Stevens. I'm the personal assis-… Oh, you know already. Well Mr. Stark asked me if you'd be willing t-… Oh, I see. Uh yes goodbye." The most worrying thing about that phone call was that he seemed to know the exact reason as to why she called and for whom.

Evelyn watched Tony entered his bedroom and soon after exited with a briefcase in hand.

"Rodney told me to relay to you that he'd be here in ten minutes."

The silence she received meant he both heard her and chose not to not reply or he already knew what the message would be and was fully aware of it. Sometimes she didn't know why she bothered. As she left the penthouse, she made sure to close the door behind her but it seemed he had no need to lock it as Tony had already made his way to a grimy looking door. Obviously the way up to the roof, though she was surprised that she had never noticed such a thing before. Especially by how much it stood out compared to the rest of the hotel.

"We need to take the stairs to the helipad."

Well that would explain why they needed to go to the roof. A helicopter would be their ride and for obvious reasons. No doubt, the usual mass of paparazzi would be standing by at the entrance awaiting an appearance of Mr. Stark. Her head nodded in acknowledgement as he swung open the door and climbed the metal stairs up to another dull door that gave an impression that it was not part of the hotel at all. Evelyn almost felt like he had taken her into a new building far from the glittering building that held his name. She came to a halt as he stopped to punch in a code into a small keypad next to the door. Not many people would know that code, or at least that was what Evelyn came to the conclusion of. It seemed this whole top floor was for him and him only. It almost made her feel lucky that she was privileged enough to visit it daily if she so wished.

The door swung open and she followed him almost as if she was some lost child trying to keep up with the teacher. She hated how he would be one way and then instantly change to become this serious businessperson in front of her. Of course it made her job easier when he switched to this mode, but it didn't make it any simpler to get along with him. The cold wind seemed to smack her in the face as they stepped outside and made her instantly regret wearing a skirt instead of some nice warming trousers. Evelyn's eyes searched the skies to focus on the dark blob approaching them at a fast rate. Must be the famous James Rhodey, well not entirely famous but with how often Tony spoke of him it sure made it feel like he was some sort of celebrity.

"And here comes our ride."

The helicopter was not too far a distance from where they were situated and would take around five minutes to reach them at it's current speed and distance from him. However, that was only an estimate on her part.

"Good thinking, Mr. Stark." She was truly impressed that in the state she had seen him in only a while back that he could think of such an idea of leaving the building via a helicopter.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a small and consistent 'beep' sound coming from her pocket followed by a robotic voice that announced, "you have mail." Inside her pocket was an advanced prototype PDA that could pretty much do everything that she required. A little gift she had been given by Mr. Stark last Christmas. Of course, it was not from him personally just something she had added to his bill.

"That must be my reply for your press conference. If you'll excuse me."

Evelyn removed the high tech PDA from her jacket pocket and tapped the screen with the stylus provided. On the screen was a circle shaped menu options. One for the mail, which was now flashing to indicate that she did indeed have mail and other such options such as calendars of events and meeting times. However, these were unimportant compared to the mail she had been waiting for. The stylus tapped onto the envelope symbol, which opened up her inbox. She found there were in fact two messages waiting for her. One from Stark Industries and another simply labelled 'M'.

The first e-mail depicted that the press conference had been arranged and would require the presence of Mr. Stark or at least a person statement from him that had to be read out to the worldwide press. Her words didn't appear to be enough as they seemed eager to hear what his view was on the destruction caused by his personal bodyguard. The second e-mail was more of an interest to her than the first. Not many had her e-mail address so she was curious as to who was sending her such a mysterious message. Her eyes widened as she read the words of the message. It read:

_'Dear Miss Stevens. My name is of no concern to you. In fact, you will soon learn it but now is not the time. However, time is what you have very little of, Miss. Stevens. I know of your ability and what you lost on that bridge. Matt will be sadly missed and your thirst for vengeance shall not go unnoticed. I am very much willing to aid you in taking down Iron Man for what he has caused to you, but there is one condition. You must join forces with me and allow me the use of your unique gift. There is a sniper positioned on a nearby building waiting to take out our beloved Tony Stark. If you agree to my terms, you will save him and stay close to him. If you do not, then he will die and you will never get close to Iron Man. It is up to you. Once you have finished reading this you will have approximately two minutes to make a decision. If you are not quick enough, he will die. Have a nice day. M.'_

Trying to stay calm and unshaken as possible, Evelyn replaced the PDA back into her pocket and let her eyes gaze over to where Tony was standing awaiting the arrival of the helicopter. If she did not do something quick, she would lose all chances of getting her vengeance on Iron Man and she would lose the man who signed her checks. Calmly she walked to his side scanning the buildings as she went.

"The company has set up a confer-… Watch out!"

Her sentence was cut short as she saw a flash from the top of a building near to where they were located. The message was not a fake and she knew what she had to. In a flash she had wrapped her arms around Tony's waist and pushed him to the ground with all the force she could muster. Unfortunately, she had not been as quick as she had hoped for. The bullet ripped through the flesh of her arm making a nasty bullet hole what poured out a great deal of blood.


End file.
